UKIAH — Judge Cindee F. Mayfield sat under the tall ceilings of courtroom E as she ruled that potential damage caused to the Lakeport police by suspended access to the county”s information system “far outweighs” damage caused to the sheriff”s office by the alleged misuse of the system.
Lake County Sheriff Frank Rivero and Lake County met with the city of Lakeport and the Lakeport Police Department (LPD) in court Friday for a preliminary hearing regarding LPD access to the Record Information Management System (RiMS).
“We”ve shown we can win the case, and (have shown) real harm from denied access,” LPD attorney David J. Ruderman said.
The judge ruled in favor of the LPD to have access of RiMS until a final ruling is made and determined there is enough merit in LPD accusations to take the matter to trial.
Before the decision was made, Ruderman argued that the lack of access by LPD officers to the dispatch system could generate added danger to their job when serving a warrant or making an arrest because the system allows the officers to get some information on who or what they”re approaching.
“There is no way to put a monetary value to the information LPD officers can access,” Ruderman said.
Legal matters sprouted when Rivero cancelled LPD access to RiMS in April. He denied the LPD access to the system after he alleged there have been between 400 and 500 documented acts of misuse by LPD.
The allegations of misconduct include officers who used the system to look up information on friends and family and sometimes even updating the information in the RiMS.
The District Attorney”s Office stated after investigating the allegations they had not found any wrong doing by the LPD in late June.
Judge Mayfield said that though access to RiMS is restored, Rivero can keep monitoring LPD system activity and added that he has the option to address individual cases of system misusing and not cancel access.
She also said that Rivero should have allowed the LPD at least a 90 day warning to allow them to find alternatives to the system before cancelling access.
LCSO attorney Lloyd C. Guintivano argued that the RiMS was not part of the Dispatch Agreement signed with the LPD in 2005.
In response, Ruderman argued that the RiMS was implied in the agreement and added that the contract was supposed to be interpreted on what the parties intended for it to say. The city of Lakeport contends that the county is obligated to share information with LPD. The county does not.
The judge ruled the city has a reasonable chance of winning that argument, and determined it had enough merit to be considered in court, Ruderman said.
The court will now look at the language in the contract and determine whether the LCSO is obligated to share the information, or if the cancelation of access to RiMS violates the contract.
Another issue with agreement was the access LPD would theoretically have to Computer Aid Dispatch, (CAD) which the LPD would contractually have even if access to RiMS is cancelled, but would only be able to access it through RiMS, Ruderman said.
Dispite the outcome of the hearing, Rivero showed confidence in ultimately winning the case.
“Their arguments will fail in the end,” Rivero said.
He then added that “records should not be treated as something for entertainment.”
LPD Chief Brad Rasmussen said he was pleased with the judge”s decision.
“It will continue to allow us to perform our jobs,” Rasmussen said.
Isaac Brambila is a staff reporter with Lake County Publishing. Reach him at 263-5636 ext. 37 or at ibrambila@record-bee.com.
